Digimortal

I just finished installing my VZ-B(p) engine in my mbx-5. Man is it beautiful. Anyway, I first installed the shim, then the cone shaped piece on the crankshaft, but when they first say to install the shim, when everything else was installed the clutch bell would not turn. So I left the first shim off. Is that shim supposed to be there? It's the very first shim that goes on the shaft, the one right up against the bearing on the engine. Thanks in advance. I hope this made sense.lol

Digimortal

I could be wrong, but the shims I am talking about about are more like small washers, I take it that these are called shims right? I still suck with terminology. Anyway, I put the cone thingy(or collet I believe it's called) on the shaft, then tightened the flywheel, using loctite also, and after that I finished putting on the clutch shoes(which was fun.lol) and now the clutch bell spins freely with just a tiny amount of play if you was to push it up and down, I mean just a tiny amount. So I would think this put on perfectly. I am just making sure I didn't screw up by leaving the very first shim off of it,the one that goes behind the collet, because when I first put it on, the clutch bell would not turn at all. Obviously I worry too much.lol I can't wait to get this baby on the track.

auto2

my initial "uneduated" thought is the washer belongs there.
must be something else wrong.
are the clutch show springs seated in the groove in the crank bolt?
anytime there is a bearing there is always a washer(spacer) backing it up.

I was just at a friends house and had him looking at my OS max engine, I was talking to his wife and not looking but he put the clutch-flywheel etc all togeather in 45 seconds.
last time I did it it took me 10 minutes just to find my reading glasses.LOL!

Digimortal

Well, I'm hoping that it's not needed because I went to take off the clutch bell and the top bearing will not come out no matter how hard I pull at it. This sucks. I mean the bearing that goes on the outer part of the clutch bell is definately not wanting to come out. Any ideas? I thought about sticking a small screw driver on the bottom up the bell and prying it up and out but that would probably really screw up the clutch bell. Oh the stress of building a car. It's all worth it in the end though.

auto2

hummm. something is wrong.
try heating it up. maybe put it in the oven or get a hair dryer and try to heat only the bearing if at all possible.
do you have a little vise? if you tap on the bell it helps greatlly if the engine is mounted solid on something and not just held in you hand.

this is the "fun" part of this hobby.
think how good your feel when you solve this mess.( I hope)

Digimortal

I fixed it. It finally just popped on out after pulling on it really hard. The black shim that goes on the back of the collet is optional I found out. It turns out that I won't need it. So everything is together and ready to go now. Well, I still need my starter box.lol I'm excited.

Henderson

Yeah the VZ-B is beautiful ain't it? I can't remember if i used the shim or not when i installed mine. I had a lot of fun installing my clutch springs too.

A few questions for you since i have the same engine:

1. Did you get a pipe yet, and if so, which one?

2. What % nitro are you gonna run? The hard core racers at the local track insist that i run 30%. The manual for the VZ-B says to use between 10%-30%, but to try 20% as a starting point and see how it goes. Kinda vague.

3. Notice that your VZ-B came with an extra head shim? The O.S. manual says you can use it during run-in to lower the compression a little or if you prefer a little better fuel economy at the expense of some performance. However, if you go to www.rc-racing.com and read the O.S. engine conference, those guys all seem to run the head shim all the time (with 30% nitro). What are you gonna do?

Digimortal

Hey Muddy, I've got the O.S. T-2030 blue pipe. It is pretty much the only one that you can get right now that will work great with that engine. I called all around looking for the popular pipes such as the 2040 and 2050 but no one has them right now. There impossible to find right now. So I'd think of going with that one. You will have to buy a nipple for it as it does not come with one. As for what % nitro I will be running, I think I am going with 30%. I go to a track where there are some pretty serious racers and they also insist on me using this also. If I'm not mistaken, which ever % nitro you start out with that is what you want to stick with, don't change it up. I'm pretty positive that this engine is well capable of handling 30% nitro. And yes, I did notice that my engine came with an extra shim but I am just going to leave it off and see how it does without it. I may try putting it in there later on to see if I notice a difference. Hope this helps.